Resilient Chamber Priming Device for Air Removal and Chemical Containment
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Solution Overview
Problem
In fluid delivery systems, particularly in medical settings, the process of removing air from tubing to prevent its introduction into a patient's bloodstream is inefficient and can expose medical practitioners to harmful chemicals, especially during procedures like chemotherapy, where repeated contact with medical fluids is undesirable.
Innovation Solution
A priming device with a housing, a resilient chamber, and a check valve that allows fluid flow only towards the chamber, enabling compression to drive liquid and gas out of the chamber and back into the fluid reservoir, thereby reducing air pockets in the tubing and minimizing exposure to medical practitioners.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If air is removed from tubing by directing liquid through the system, then air is effectively removed from the fluid delivery system, but medical practitioners are exposed to harmful chemicals in the medical fluid
Solution Approach 1:
A resilient chamber is introduced as an intermediary component between the tubing and the fluid reservoir. The chamber captures and contains air bubbles that are flushed from the tubing, preventing their direct release into the environment. The check valve serves as another intermediary that controls fluid flow direction, ensuring that fluid and trapped air are directed into the chamber rather than being vented outward, thus protecting practitioners from harmful chemical exposure while maintaining effective air removal
2Reliability
If liquid is directed through tubing to release trapped air, then air is removed from the system, but liquid and gasses are released into the environment
Solution Approach 1:
The resilient chamber functions as a recovery mechanism by capturing air bubbles and excess fluid that would otherwise be discarded into the environment. The chamber temporarily stores these substances, allowing the system to recover and reuse the medical fluid by redirecting it back into the reservoir, while the air is contained and safely released or recaptured, thus preventing unnecessary loss of valuable medical fluid
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the priming process is contained to prevent exposure, then practitioner safety is improved, but the complexity of the priming device increases
Solution Approach 1:
The resilient chamber is constructed from flexible, resilient material that can expand and contract to accommodate varying volumes of air and fluid. This flexible shell design provides an effective containment barrier that protects practitioners from harmful chemical exposure while maintaining a relatively simple overall device structure. The flexibility of the chamber eliminates the need for complex rigid sealing mechanisms or multiple rigid components, thus limiting the increase in device complexity
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Effectively removes air from the fluid delivery system, reducing the risk of air introduction into the patient and minimizing exposure to medical practitioners by containing and redirecting gases back into the fluid reservoir, ensuring a safer and more controlled priming process.
Implementation Method 1
a check valve disposed in the inlet passage such that a fluid flow through the check valve is only in a direction toward the resilient chamber
Implementation Method 2
compression of the flexible walls of the resilient chamber directs a fluid out of the resilient chamber and through the outlet passage
Data Source
AI summary
A priming system including a resilient chamber having flexible walls and a first check valve in a first fluid pathway between the resilient chamber and a fluid reservoir such that a fluid flows through the first check valve only in a direction from the fluid reservoir toward the resilient chamber and the fluid returns to the fluid reservoir through a second fluid pathway between the resilient chamber and the fluid reservoir upon compression of the walls of the resilient chamber.